Development strategies that are sensitive to cultural values can reduce harmful practices against women and promote human rights, including gender equality and women's empowerment, affirms The State of World Population 2008 report from UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.

Over the last twenty years, the ballot box has replaced military coups as a means of political change across Africa, says Professor Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, a political scientist from the University of Ghana. However the results of democratic practices are a mixed bag of sand and sim-sim. "There has been a significant departure from the mode of politics of the past," he says.

"Cabinet is extremely concerned about the political impasse that is creating a humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe. The reported outbreak of cholera in parts of that country is a clear indication that ordinary Zimbabweans are the true victims of their leaders' lack of political will and failure to demonstrate seriousness to resolve the political impasse.

FormerUnited States President Jimmy Carter and former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan are arriving in Southern Africa on Friday to make a first hand assessment of the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe. They will be joined in this assessment by fellow Elder and international advocate for women's and children's rights, Mrs Graça Machel.

From 25 Nov to 10 December Zimbabwe will once again join the rest of the world to focus on ‘16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM AGAINST VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN’ - a global campaign to “SAY NO!” to violence against women, which is now in its 18th year and sweeping the world.

People were still voting at midnight November 19, as the massive turnout totally overwhelmed the polling stations, forcing many to remain open well after the official 6 pm (1800) closing.

The latest rescue plan for Africa is another Green Revolution. GRAIN, alongside a host of others, has written and commented extensively on the Alliance for a Green Revolution for Africa (AGRA) and the impacts it will have on the continent. In the meantime, this model of a Green Revolution has already been implemented for the past five years in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It provides us with a case study and an indication of the likely outcome of such an approach in other parts of Africa.

Long queues of people waiting to vote in most municipalities have been reported by our correspondents. In general polling stations opened on time and have been well organised, with only minor problems. In Beira, where independent candidate Daviz Simango had warned of possible police intimidation, our correspondent reports that police were “nearly invisible”. There are long queues and voting is going smoothly.

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights is the winner of Rights & Democracy’s 2008 John Humphrey Freedom Award in recognition of its courageous pursuit of justice for victims of human rights abuses inside Zimbabwe. The organization has played a leading role in the promotion and protection of human rights across Zimbabwe since its founding in 1996.

Highlighting the slow progress around the implementation of greater Corporate and Social Responsibility (CSR) by the Canadian government and Canadian mining companies, Ian Thomson describes the efforts of diverse groups of civil society organisations to hold mining companies to account for their actions in African countries. In the face of these broad struggles, the author argues that lasting progress will derive principally from the ability of African and Canadian civil society organisations to work in solidarity against the negative environmental and human rights concerns associated with the mining sector.

In response to ; One thing it seems you dont know about the Arusha Peace Agreement is that the French troops left Rwanda in August,then the RPF came into Kigali with 600 strong force to protect its own political officials.as former members of rpf say it wasn't only those 600. There was a plan to take power by force. They had to cook for themselves and fetch wood too. But when 30 men went out in a truck 60 were brought inside hidden. That's how at the end of march more than 3000 trooprs were in Kigali ready for the final assault. Only inhabitant of Kanombe know who shoot down the plane.

I have a problem ; it's resting on a shaky premise. Just because somebody told Obama that Volcker is a "legend" does not mean that Obama will let Volker totally spearhead the new administration's economic agenda. Additionally, Bond dredged up the only negative consequence of Volcker's tenure at the Fed and is using that as a premise for suggesting that the same measures will be relied on to tackle the current economic mess, much to the potential detriment of Africa. This doesn't make much sense. Obama has always maintained the importance of seeking varied expert opinions to guide his decisions. I believe that will be his approach to managing the economic crisis – and that approach puts paid to Bond's concerns about Volcker influencing Obama's entire economic approach.

I would have found more value in Bond's article if, in addition to pointing out the problems of the so-called "Volcker shock", Bond had also suggested how the Obama administration could turn the economy around without recourse to the so-called "Volcker Shock" of the seventies. But Bond made no useful suggestions so his article leaves me rather exasperated. The world has changed so it is very unlikely that the Volcker shock would be effected in the exact same manner, if at all. This is 2008, hardly similar to the seventies!

Having said that I am not at all concerned/surprised that Volcker is one of Obama's economic advisors. The most urgent issue on Obama's agenda right now is the economy. Volcker, from America's standpoint, had effectively addressed excess credit in the past. Volcker's statements on Paulson's handling of the crisis were on point from the very beginning. Volcker wants to curb consumer spending - and Lord knows it needs to be curbed! If I were Obama, I would be listening to him too.

At the risk of sounding too simplistic, the economy is in its current state, primarily because of gaps in oversight that led to excessive & risky borrowing by consumers (i.e. sub prime loans) and risky derivative gambles by banks, etc. That's just one aspect of this problem; there are also questions of enforcement, fraud prevention, etc. It's a multi-faceted problem requiring a litany of economic talents to address it. Volcker is just one of the people involved. There are others and Obama does not need Bond prodding him to consult widely, the man is already doing that.

Clearly Bond has paid little attention to what could actually drive Obama's economic agenda: progressive philosophy. Bond needs to read the issues articulated by the Center for American Progress whose CEO, John Podesta, is on Obama's transition team; that should allay Bond's fears.

This posting, might be of interest to your readers:

In 1944 a Swedish economist by the name of Gunnar Myrdal published a seminal work on race relations in the US titled, An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy. Over six decades later we have a black man of African descent running for the highest office of the most powerful nation on earth. Will the dilemma at long last find a historic resolution? Has Western democracy matured to a point of accommodating aspirations of black people?

The Swedes seem to have an answer to all that. They answered that by awarding the Nobel Prize to another economist by the name of Paul Krugman. Mr. Krugman, if you ever read the New York Times, is the guy who consistently tried to straighten president Bush on his 'misguided' economic and political doctrine. And Krugman supports Barack Obama. Go figure.

The award could not have come at a worse time for the Republican Party nominee John McCain. The economy is in shambles. As a top economist, Krugman has said, McCain is "more frightening now than he was a few weeks ago."

Well, the Swedes must have divined it. The award is typically shared by two or three researchers. Why couldn't the Nobel Committee wait a little longer until they found at least a second researcher to share with Mr. Krugman? We believe $1.4 million is more than enough for two in these financially trying times. By their timing the Swedes seem to have been in some existential hurry to realize the overdue quest of their countryman, of blacks, White America, and modern democracy itself. We wish them luck.

In reply to : Barack Obama is the son of an african Kenyan. During his pursuit for the WH fleece, he made a great deal about his mother and grand mother who are White and very little about his father. What is it about Africa that he would be thankful for so as to go out on a limb to show special favor?

Methinks Obama will be limited by his scanty knowlegde about the continent and preoccupation with the erstwhile wars facing his administration. I doubt that he has made a call to any African leader nor has received any calls from any of them since his lightening victory. Achille is on point. We have to lower the decible on lofty expectations.

Jacques Depelchin - 2008-11-14

Jacques Depelchin traces the roots of the DRC crisis to the pathological need to ‘be finished with’ that began a long time ago. At independence, it was seen as necessary to ‘be finished with’ Lumumba, and all that he represented in terms of hope and true independence for his country and his people – an idea that was too threatening for those who had, hoped to continue benefiting from the country’s riches. Depelchin calls for a return to humanity and its pure ideals, and a greater sense of agency for those who suffer the most form injustices.

The real enemies of African farmers
Moussa Touré - 2008-11-14

In a follow-up piece to the fifth International Conference of the Via Campesina movement held in Maputo, Mozambique in October 2008, Moussa Touré singles out the comments of Mamadou Sissoko, honorary president of the Réseau d'Organisations Paysannes et des Producteurs Agricoles de l'Afrique de l'Ouest (ROPPA), for special attention. In a break from the emphasis put on foreign multinationals, Sissoko was also keen to point the finger at the role of African leaders for the range of problems faced by farmers across the continent. Taking up Sissoko’s argument, Moussa Touré surveys the post-colonial experiences of farmers and the progressively greater dominance of a self-interested bourgeoisie within individual African countries, underlining the importance of the Via Campesina movement and other farmers’ interests groups in ensuring greater representation and power for local groups.

China and India – the Asian Driver economies – have a rapidly increasing presence in sub-Saharan Africa. This provides both opportunity (complementary impacts) and threat (competitive impacts). These impacts are evidenced both directly as a consequence of growing bilateral links with SSA economies, and indirectly as a consequence of the growing global footprint of the Asian Driver economies. The impacts are felt in a wide variety of spheres – including on the economy; in politics; in the flows of people, culture and ideas; and on the environment.

Sokari Ekine reviews the following blogs:

Ranger witnesses the murder of his father
Lions Guardians
Dudu Diaries
Lamu Marine Conservation project

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zambia expresses concern over the sharp rise in the number of media freedom violations recorded during the just ended presidential by-election of 30 October, 2008. During the pre and immediate post election period, between September and November 2008, MISA-Zambia recorded and reported 16 media freedom violations compared to six (6) between January and August 2008.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's government is launching another wave of attacks against the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), a spokesman for the opposition party told IRIN, after a much vaunted power-sharing deal appeared to be on the verge of collapse

The Zanu PF politburo on Wednesday tasked national chairman John Nkomo to meet disgruntled former PF Zapu leaders today in Bulawayo to find ways of addressing their concerns. Sources in Zanu PF said the politburo made the decision after the ex-PF Zapu leaders at the weekend declared the unity accord with Zanu PF dead and vowed to revive the late Joshua Nkomo-led party next month.